Celebrating the Sale of the House - It's Official
Bangkok, Thailand
March 22, 2009
We did not need our 5 am wake up call because of the incredibly loud Muslim chanting outsite (no window, remember). When we did get the wake up call, it was a chime sound, exactly like the sound before an announcement on the bus to Mandalay. Strange!
We stayed in bed until 5:40, brushed teeth and used wet naps to freshen up. I then had to pick bugs (small ants) off of my purse and clothes that I had set on the beside table. That is going to stay with me for a while.
As we left we heard pigeons cooing outside. I guess they get up early too. Have you ever seen a baby pigeon? Neither Bill or I have... weird!?
The cab driver is waiting, but it is not the same guy as last night. I guess the big guy could not handle the early wake up call
.
At the airport we run into Florence and Jerome again! They stayed at a bad hotel last night too. They are with another girl who is originally from France and is working at the French embassy in Bangkok.
Myanmar knows where we are yet again, as we are on the list for the airport fee. Only a few more hours and they will have no idea where we are for the first time in 2 weeks.
I had an omelette that included veggies (normally it is just eggs). They only offer green tea or lipton tea. I really wanted to have one last Myanmar tea. Dang!
I am still scratching because an ant has just crawled over my hand. It is going to be like that all day.
We arrived in Bangkok at 10:10 and it feels like we are back home. We are glad to have returned to civilization and a familiar place. The airport has a baggage carousel, customs was a breeze, I was able to wash and dry my hands at the toilet, we were not greeted by tour guides and there was a queue for the taxi (which was newer than 1985 and had a/c and had a meter). Funny how you miss the little things.
We checked into Lamphutree again, but they had not received our email and they are full. After a brief delay they have given us the room behind the front desk. It is smaller and the shower is in the middle of the bathroom, but it is clean and cool.
We showered (sadly it was not draining) and put on clean clothes - much better. We checked the internet and found out that we have officially sold our house! All conditions have been removed - YEAH! Good work Sheila and Buck!
We head to the laundry first on Khoa San and dropped off our dirty clothes. Then, we stop at Starbucks for an unsweetened iced tea with ICE!! Man did it taste good! We had some lunch and I was able to trade in one book and buy 4 more. I bought all Patricia Cornwell books, I skipped quite a few.
Bill was able to upload some pics at an internet cafe because our hotel did not have a disk drive. I stayed at the hotel and blogged. That is the longest we have been apart in 3 weeks. Kinda felt strange.
For dinner we went back to Khoa San. We celebrated our sale with a beer tower full of Singha (it holds 3 1/2 litres)!!! It was great. We were there for a while and talked to an older Aussie couple and a younger couple from Holland.
One of the older ladies in traditional headdress convinced Bill to buy one of those annoying little wooden frogs (you run a stick across their back and it sounds like a frog). Bill is extremely pleased with this purchase.
We buy something even better - new travelling shorts for Bill. They are beige (not orange or plaid) and have lots of pockets. We were also able to find a money belt too. We are accomplishing a lot on our To Do list.
I was not terribly hungry, but had to have a gyro from the Turkish Kebab street vendor. It was sooooo good!
We saw a street band playing drums. The crazy old guy, hippies and lesbians were dancing up a storm! Up the street we saw a guy from Africa teaching kids some dance moves. They were really into it.
On our way back to the hotel I spotted a bridge that we had not noticed before. We crossed it and were headed back to the hotel when Bill said "a rat!". Just as I spotted it he said, "it ran over my foot!". He was wearing sandals! Creepy! Better than the dreaded strayed dog though?!